In October 1989, Charles Stuart called 911 from Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood and reported that a Black gunman had shot him and his pregnant wife, Carol. The lie that followed tore through the city: a police crackdown on Mission Hill, a media frenzy, and wounds in Boston's Black community that never fully healed.
Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning is a three-part HBO documentary series that re-examines the case, the institutions that failed, and the toll the Stuart case still takes on the people closest to it. Directed by Jason Hehir (The Last Dance), the series premiered on HBO and Max on December 4, 2023.
I worked on the series as a director of photography, camera operator, and gimbal operator, filming across Greater Boston. Telling this story meant working in the real places where it happened, with people for whom none of it is history. Documentary work like this is about staying invisible: lighting interviews so people can forget the camera is there, and keeping the visual language consistent and honest across three episodes.
For someone who lives and works in Boston, this one was personal. Being trusted to help tell one of the city's most consequential stories, for HBO, in my own backyard, is the kind of project that reminds you why you do this work.
If you need a director of photography or camera operator who knows this city, its light, and its stories, I'd love to hear about your project.
See My Services →More project recaps: 16 and Recovering (MTV) Eternal Presence (MFA) The Summer Stroll (NESN)